Comics win big at the 2019 Hugo Awards

Worldcon, the World Science Fiction convention, held its 77th meeting in Dublin, Ireland, this weekend. The highlight of each convention is the presentation of the Hugo Awards, awarded (almost) every year since 1953. Anyone who purchases an Attending or Supporting membership is allowed to nominate and vote!

This year, Monstress, Volume 3: Haven won, making a three-peat for the series which also won in 2017 and 2018. This year, however, it barely won, as Black Panther: Long Live the King was the front-runner through the first four passes of tabulation. (The Hugo Awards use instant runoff voting, where voters rank the nominees by preference.)

Monstress gained the lead on the fifth pass, and won by eight votes on the sixth, 612-604!

[For a summary of voting, as well as a look at the top 16 titles nominated, scroll to the bottom of this post!]

But wait! Monstress wasn’t the only comic to win a Hugo! Wonder Woman was also honored, with a Retro Hugo Award! (Worldcons can award retro Hugos for years which did not originally have a Hugo Award ceremony, at 50-, 75- and 100-year intervals.) This year, Hugo Awards were presented for works that would have been eligible in 1944, for categories active in 2019 if there were enough votes cast for nominees. That means there was a retro Hugo Award for comics! Who won?

I teased that there were other comics winners this year, and here they are!

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony)
2. Black Panther, written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, directed by Ryan Coogler (Marvel Studios)
3. Avengers: Infinity War, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Studios)
4. Annihilation, directed and written for the screen by Alex Garland, based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer (Paramount Pictures/Skydance)
5. A Quiet Place, screenplay by Scott Beck, John Krasinski and Bryan Woods, directed by John Krasinski (Platinum Dunes/Sunday Night)
6. Sorry to Bother You, written and directed by Boots Riley (Annapurna Pictures)

Not a surprise, as Spider-Verse has won numerous awards this past year, including the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. While it is not surprising that the top three films featured superheroes, it should be noted that the top two prominently featured characters of color.

Back in 1944, Heaven Can Wait beat out Batman for the Long Form award, while Bugs Bunny’s Super Rabbit was not strong enough, coming in sixth,losing to Universal’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. (Yes, 74 minutes is considered “short”.)

Charles Vess was the big winner this year, winning Best Professional Artist as well as Best Art Book, a new category added by the Dublin committee. Since these books also appeal visually to comics fans, here’s the final tally:

The 2019 Hugo Award winners were announced at a ceremony held at Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon on Sunday August 18th, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. Detailed results, finalist placements, and nominations breakdowns are available here (PDF).

I've been writing for The Beat since July of 2010.
I've been reading comics since 1974, collecting since 1984, and spreading the graphic novel gospel since 1994.
I'm a bookseller, a librarian, an amateur scholar, a cool uncle, and a comics evangelist.
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